Caseless,linkless,telescoped ammunition

ABSTRACT

AN IMPROVED CASELESS ROUND OF AMMUNITION IS PROVIDED BY TELESCOPING A PROJECTILE WITHIN A COMPRESSED MOLDED PROPELLANT. THE MOLDED PROPELLANT IS MADE WITH A BARREL SHAPED EXTERIOR TO FACILITATE PNEUMATIC FEEDING THROUGH FLEXIBLE TUBING. THE PROJECTILE INCLUDES AN AUXILIARY PROPELLANT CHARGE AND REARWARDLY EXTENDING JET NOZZLES TO INITIATE PROPULSION OF THE PROJECTILE IMMEDIATELY PRIOR TO IGNITION OF THE MOLDED PROPELLANT.

H. H. WIESE 3,718,089

CASELESS, LINKLESS TELESCOPELI AMMUNITION Filed March 23, 1970 Feb. 27, 1973 u EILE L ll i 1 5 3 H I :J .LTIIZL-L- [2 lo 1;: r

INVENTOR ATTORNEYS 3,718,089 Patented Feb. 27, 1973 3,718,089 CASELESS, LINKLESS, TELESCOPED AMMUNITION Harold H. Wiese, Davenport, Iowa, assignor to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army Filed Mar. 23, 1970, Ser. No. 21,631

Int. Cl. F42b 5/18 U.S. Cl. 102-38 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The invention described herein may be manufactured, used, and licensed by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

The above identified patent application is a continuation-in-part of 'applicants copending previously filed patent application, Ser. No. 864,849, filed Oct. 8, 1969.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to caseless ammunition and more particularly to a round which is telescoped and adapted for pneumatic feeding.

In the field of ordance, there is a trend directed to utilizing caseless ammuniition thereby eliminating the disadvantages incident to using the Well-known metal case to contain the propellant charge as well as elimination of the customary links to feed the rounds from a source of supply to the weapon.

Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present in vention to provide an improved caseless round of ammunition which is particularly adaptable to pneumatic feeding.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide an improved round of ammunition which is conducive to elimination of critical material shortage.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a caseless, linkless round of ammunition which is adapted particularly for feeding through flexible tubing.

Still further it is an object of the present invention to provide a caseless round of ammunition which is highly efiicient for use in a pneumatic feed system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the present invention, an improved caseless, linkless round of ammunition is provided by telescoping the projectile within a compressed molded propellant of cylindrical shape. The outside surface of the propellant is barrel-shaped to facilitate feeding pneumatically through a flexible tube. The projectile is provided with an auxiliary propellant charge and a plurality of jet noules leading from the combustion chamber of the charge rearwardly to initiate forward propulsion of the projectile.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The novel features characteristic of the present invention, as well as additional objects and advantages thereof, will be understood better from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a section of flexible tubing illustrating a series of rounds of caseless ammunition being fed pneumatically therethrough; and

FIG. 2 is an enlarged central sectional view of one of the rounds of ammunition shown in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring more particularly to the drawing, wherein similar reference characters have been used to designate corresponding parts throughout, there is shown a preferred embodiment of a round of ammunition 1 in accordance with the present invention.

The round of ammunition comprises essentially a conventional projectile 3 disposed within the hollow interior of a generally cylindrical molded propellant 5. This arrangement, with the projectile inside of the molded propellant, suggests a telescoped configuration which makes the overall length considerably shorter than a conventional round.

The projectile 3 is of conventional type of a size which will enable it to be propelled through the bore of a gun tube (not shown). The projectile has a primer 7 plus an auxiliary propellant charge 9 set in its base. The primer 7 is intended for igniting the auxiliary propellant 9 and together with the auxiliary propellant serves to ignite the main propellant 5. The primer may be of any suitable type including that made with a metal case since the case will leave the weapon with the projectile when fired. The auxiliary propellant charge 9 is contained in a chamber 10 immediately forward of and in communication with the primer 7. Extending rearwardly through the base of the projectile are a plurality of acceleration holes or jet nozzles or passages :12. The jet nozzles are concentrically arranged and disposed angularly with respect to the central axis of the projectile and spaced from the cavity containing the primer 7. The purpose of the jet nozzles is to convey the expanding gasses from the auxiliary ignition charge rearwardly thereby to elfect a jet eifect initiating forward propulsion of the projectile immediately prior to ignition of the molded propellant 5. The nozzles 12 may be disposed either in alignment with the projectile axis if it is not desired to effect a rotative motion to the projectile or, they may be disposed canted or angularly with respect to the projectile axis thereby to impart a centrifugal pressure to initiate rotative action to the projectile.

The propellant 5 is a compressed, molded type which is generally cylindrical and with a hollow interior for receiving and retaining the projectile. The outside surface 11 is barrel-shaped, that is, it is symmetrically tapered or of larger diameter in the middle and tapers toward the ends. It is also of a size to fit snugly in the firing chamber of the weapon which is larger than the gun tube bore. The barrel-shaped exterior is provided rather than one of uniform diameter thereby facilitating the rounds negotiating curves and turns in a flexible feed tube 13, such as that shown in FIG. 1 of the drawing. The barrel shape is also conducive to feeding the rounds pneumatically through the tube from ammunition containers thereby eliminating the need of links. It will be recognized by persons skilled in the art that the barrel shape is preferable to a tapered or cylindrical shape for pneumatic feeding through a flexible tube because it results in maintaining a more efficient circumferential seal with the sides of the tube, particularily when negotiating curves. Thus, since the propellant retains its barrel-like shape, the necessity for the conventional metal case for retaining the propellant is eliminated, hence the name caseless.

In use, the caseless, linkless round 1 will be found to operate in the following manner. Once the round is chambered, it may then be fired in a manner well-known in the art. Upon firing, the primer 7 ignites the small propellant charge 9 in the base of the projectile. The eX- panding gasses from the small charge exit through the nozzles 12 to provide a jet effect thereby initiating a forward propulsion of the projectile 3. Ignition of the molded propellant immediately follows firing of the primer and the expanding gases therefrom continue propulsion of the projectile through the gun tube in a manner well-known in the art.

It will be recognized by persons skilled in the art that the caseless, linkless round of ammunition of the present invention will offer other advantages in addition to those outlined above. Therefore, it will be appreciated that certain changes and variations may be made in the specific, single, preferred embodiment set forth herein Without departing from the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the novelty and scope of the present invention is not intended to be limited except insofar as it is made necessary by the prior art and by the spirit of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A telescoped, caseless round of ammunition comprising a projectile having a combustion chamber in the base thereof and propellant means surrounding said projectile, the exterior surface of said propellant means being symmetrically tapered toward the ends of said round from an intermediate portion thereof, a percussion type primer disposed within said combustion chamber, an auxiliary propellant charge disposed within said combustion chamber forwardly of said primer and in communication therewith, and a plurality of jet nozzles concentrically disposed in said projectile to extend rearwardly from said combustion chamber to the base end of said projectile.

2. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein the tapered external surface is curved inwardly toward the axis of said projectile.

3. The invention as defined in claim- 1 and wherein said jet nozzles are disposed in alignment with the central axis of said projectile.

4. The invention as defined in claim 1 and wherein said jet nozzles are disposed in alignment with and canted with respect to the central axis of said projectile.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,543,427 12/1970 Joyce et al. 89-33 X 3,547,001 12/1970 Stoner 8933 X 2,884,859 5/1959 Alexander et a1. 10238 3,482,516 12/1969 Farmer et al. l0238 2,644,364 7/1953 Wass 10238 X 3,486,451 12/1969 Moore et a1 10238 ROBERT F. STAHL, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 102-DIG. 1 

